Fighting Civil Asset Forfeiture in Illinois
The End Policing for Profit Coalition is organizing to abolish civil asset forfeiture.
Civil asset forfeiture is legalized larceny. It’s a process by which law enforcement can keep and profit off someone’s property, like a car or cash, after they’ve seized it.
The government is legally allowed to do this without filing or convicting someone of criminal charges—solely on their suspicion that the property was involved in criminal activity. Law enforcement can keep or auction off the property their seize, and the profits—wealth is extracted from communities—goes almost entirely to pad agencies’ budgets.
Civil asset forfeiture is a racial and economic justice issue hidden from public view. It derails people’s lives and livelihoods, and strips them of basic due process rights as they represent themselves in civil courtrooms.
Who are we?
We are group of advocates and researchers working to abolish civil asset forfeiture in Illinois and beyond.
We provide public education and organize communities in support of policy change that improves data transparency, promotes due process, and removes profit incentives police have to make seizures—ultimately working toward the end civil asset forfeiture.
Community Organizing
We are raising awareness to mobilize support around our efforts to end civil asset forfeiture by creating a platform for people to connect about their experiences and providing education about asset forfeiture and its impacts.
Data + Research
We are collecting the stories of people who have experienced civil asset forfeiture to report on the extended social, economic, and other costs of seizure. We also court-watch forfeiture hearings to collect data.
Share your story.
Legislation + Advocacy
We advocated for HB 1628 to increase reporting requirements so we can better tell these stories with data and make civil asset forfeiture more transparent. We’ll continue to monitor the implementation of the law and determine next steps.
Research + News
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Chicago Appleseed’s report (2023), I Don’t Know Why I’m Here: Observations from Cook County’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Courtrooms
Institute for Justice’s report (2020), Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture
ACLU’s report (2018), Asset Forfeiture In Illinois: What It Is, Where It Happens, And Reforms The State Needs
Lucy Parsons Labs investigation (2016, 2017), Inside the Chicago Police Department’s secret budget and Poor Neighborhoods Hit Hardest by Asset Forfeiture
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Since CAF is not at all a transparent process in Illinois, we have struggled to collect information. Through FOIAs, individual court case scraping, and more, we’ve put together an archive of what we know. A directory is available in the Drive to make looking through the data easier.
Access the archive here.